Issue #1 JANUARY, 2004

Transcription

1 Issue #1 JANUARY, 2004 Presidents Message 2004 DUES GCARC dues for the year 2004 are due. The annual dues are $20.oo. Please send your checks directrly to the treasurer, Bob Krchnavek, (K2DAD) at 50 Eastwick Dr., Gibbsboro, NJ Well the New Year will be upon us by the time you get this and I hope you had a great holiday season. Now it's time to get back to work and see how we can make 2004 a banner year for GCARC, we have several new members and I am sure we will get a few more as the year progresses. The elections in December went off without a hitch, basically all the board members are the same and Gene, AA2YO, and Bob, KR2U, were reelected as directors. Also at the meeting the membership voted to raise the basic dues to $20 per year for Full Members and $15 for Associate Members. More will be said about dues in another section of crosstalk. In the past year we have picked up some new members and it will be the job of older members to make them feel at home and help them along and also encourage more new hams to join our ranks. The membership process has been streamlined so new members can be inducted in less than a month. January is the month to get together a committee to bring forth a budget for Anyone interested in helping in the budget process should see Bob, K2DAD, our treasurer. We have in the past run a tight budget and even with the dues increase it will still be very tight. We have expenses to be reckoned with such as the club house, insurance, equipment repairs and Crosstalk. Again, I hope everyone had a happy holiday season. Best 73 & 88 Ray WB2NBJ Happy New Year 1

2 DX Dope By Doug Gehring, WA2NPD Well, here we are at the end of another year already. Ever notice that time seems to go faster as one gets older? And, ironically, today is the shortest day of the year as the sun has reached its furthest point south and tomorrow will begin heading back up north (OK, yea, I know the sun doesn t really move up and down, it s the earth changing its axis of rotation, etc.). More importantly, its low band time!! The 160, 80, and 40 meter skip distances are now greater (more darkness, less F layer excitation, enhanced gray-line paths), and, of course, much lower QRN levels as summer storms largely vanish. Well, of course, we still have magnetic storms (k values go up) to contend with, but even the sun seems to cooperate better during our wintertime. The next few years should even be better for the low bands as the eleven year cycle approaches its bottom and presumably the magnetic disturbances become less. Knowing all of this, you, the avid DXer, by now should have your long wire antennas up and ready to go, and even a receiving antenna (or two) in place. Also, your alarm clock working and perhaps set for 5:30 AM as to try and snag the really far away DX on 80 meters. The 80 and 40 meter windows are open for just a comparatively short time to the Far East, at sun rise, and then at sun set (via Africa and the Middle East). So, good luck to all with the low bands this year. So, now let s see what s up for this month. STATION DATES FREQ/MODE RARITY* COUNTRY A52CW 12/22-1/12 All; SSB, CW 4 Bhutan T2? 1/1 1/ ; SSB, CW 3 Tuvalu A35RE 1/20-2/ ; SSB, CW 2 Tonga YA8G Now-6/ ; CW, SSB 3 Afghanistan G4IUF/HC8 Now-1/ ; CW, SSB 2 Galapagos ST2M Now-? 15; SSB 4 Sudan A51AJ Now ( z) 80; CW, SSB 4 UAE BG9BA Now (>1100z) 40; SSB, CW 3 China EL2AR Now (2300z) 20; SSB 3 Liberia FR5ZL Now (1500z) 40; CW 3 Reunion LZ0A Now (0450z) 40; CW 3 S. Shetland * No. 5 is rarest Thanks to Weekly DX, 425 DX News, K2JF, AA2WN, W1YC, WA2LET. Free Monitors My school district is looking for help in disposing of approximately 30 older monitors. Some are 13" and many are 15". You may take any quantity you wish. They are all free and I will be happy to deliver within 30 miles of Mullica Hill, NJ. Chris, WK2W, (856) (Editor s Note: Chris sent me this right after the December issue of Crosstalk went to press so I don t know if any of these monitors are left but if you need one give him a call.) 2

3 2004 Officers and Directors The annual election of officers and directors for the Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club took place at the December meeting. The following people were elected: President Ray Schnapp WB2NBJ Vice President Wayne Wilson WA2LET Treasurer Bob Krchnavek K2DAD Recording Secretary Harry Bryant AA2WN Corresponding Secretary John Fisher K2JF Directors Bob Krukowski KR2U Gene Schoeberlein AA2YO Dues Increase for 2004 At the December membership meeting the By-Laws were amended to increase the Club dues for The new dues levels are $20 for full members and $15 for associate members. All other dues are pegged to these rates. For instance family dues for husband and wife are one and a half times the full membership dues or $30. Junior members dues are set at one half the full membership dues or $10. Dues are due by March 31st of each year but Bob Krchnavek will accept them earlier if it is more convenient for you to pay them that way. FCC Announces Universal Licensing System Makeover The FCC has unveiled a new on-line filing interface for the Universal Licensing System (ULS) which includes the Amateur Service. Among other features, the ULS makeover will include easier-to-read on-screen forms that guide users through filing and simplify such routine tasks as applying for license renewal, address change or vanity call sign. The FCC says the introduction of its new system, called "ULS License Manager," concludes phase one of an ongoing ULS overhaul by the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. ULS License Manager will be compatible with most, if not all, major Web browsers and computer platforms and no longer will require downloading Java and Java Script files. Screens also will be compliant with Web screen-to-voice reader software. The ULS will require all filers to log into the system using an FCC Registration Number (FRN) and Commission Registration System (CORES) password. The FCC said it would no longer accept a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)--a Social Security Number for most individuals--for log-in purposes. There's also a new paper version of FCC Form 605, dated December One change is that Form 605 no longer requests a date of birth and will only accept an FRN and CORES password. There are no Amateur Service-related changes to any Form 605 schedules. The FCC says Amateur Service applicants may continue to use the March 2001 (or later) edition of Form 605, although it encourages use of the newest version. The new FCC Form 605 now is available via the FCC Web site. ULS licensing support and forms information is available weekdays (except holidays) from 8 AM until 5:30 PM Eastern Time via <ulshelp@fcc.gov> or telephone 888-CALLFCC ( ) Thanks to the American Radio Relay League and the ARRL Letter. 3

4 Club Member Profiles It only seems right to start the first of our Club member profiles with our Club President, Ray Schnapp, WB2NBJ. The following profile of Ray is condensed from the information he provided: Ray was born June, in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Elmhurst section of Queens. He attended PS 13 in Queens, the Clement C. Moore School, which was named after the author of The Night before Christmas. He attended Newton High School in Elmhurst where he took an Industrial Arts course and graduated in After high school Ray attended the Radio/Television school at Delehanty institute and graduated in Ray went to work for Northern Radio and quit after 3 weeks figuring that he didn t spend his time and money at Delehanty to solder tube sockets all day long. He then went to work for Metropolitan TV repairing televisions. While at Metropolitan he met an engineer and ended up going to work for him at Tele-King in their development lab. He learned a lot from him about testing components and the detailed workings of TV sets. Then Ray moved on to Air King doing similar work and working with the same engineer. At that time Air King was doing a lot of work on the Columbia color TV system. Along came the Korean War and Ray went into the navy in He took boot camp at Newport, RI and was then sent to Boston for duty at receiving station. Ray enjoyed Boston. It was a good liberty town and had the best chow in the navy. He gained a few pounds while he was there. He was then sent to the Great Lakes Electronics School where he met his wife at a dance in Milwaukee. Ray graduated sixth in his class in 1952 and consequently had the sixth pick of assignment. He picked USS San Pablo AGS 30 because he heard it was a seagoing ship and he didn't join the navy stay on land. He was discharged in August 1954 two months early (at the convenience of the government). Ray was married on May 9, 1953 in Milwaukee and he and his wife have 8 children, 3 girls and 5 boys, all married, and 15 grandchildren. He has lived in Glendora since the navy except for a short time in Woodbury. After the navy Ray worked for RCA in Moorestown, Dupont in Gibbstown in the instrument shop (where he met Doug, WA2NPD) and Shell Chemical on their plant start up team. He then moved to Johnson Controls as a field representative until he retired in June, Since retirement Ray has worked for his son, Ray, in his office machine business where he mostly repairs laser printers. Ray got his ham ticket in 1976 as a novice, got his advanced license in 1978 and his extra recently. He also got his DXCC recently for both SSB and mixed. His station rig is a Ten-Tec Jupiter which he has been very happy with. Ray operates mostly SSB and PSK31 on 20, 15 and 10 meters. Ray has been active with the GCARC and has been president for the past two years and has again accepted the job as president for Ray s biggest project with the Club was the rebuilding and installing of the generator that we have been using for the last few Field Days. Ray is also active with the Battleship New Jersey radio station both operating the radio equipment and repairing other equipment on the ship. International Morse Code Gets New Character The 2003 World Radiocommunication Conference may have eliminated the treaty requirement for prospective amateurs to demonstrate Morse code proficiency to gain HF access, but the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) hasn't forgotten Morse code altogether. In Geneva on December 5, the ITU drafted a proposal to add a new Morse code character to cover the "@" symbol used in addresses. The new proposal recommends that the letters A and C run together (.--.-.) be used to represent symbol to permit sending addresses in Morse code. While this is still a draft recommendation, it is expected to be approved in six months or so. Thanks to the American Radio Relay League and the ARRL Letter. 4

5 Happy Birthday Congratulations to the following Club members: Al Arrison, KB2AYU 1/15 Joseph DiNovi, WA2GFK 1/13 Lou Joseph, W2LYL 1/22 Robert Layton, KB2COB 1/11 Charles Naylor, WA2USI 1/9 Crosstalk Submissions All submissions, queries, comments, editorials, etc. should be directed to: Gene Schoeberlein, AA2YO 401 Westwood Drive Woodbury, New Jersey (856) Submission deadline: 1/26/2004 President-Ray Schnapp WB2NBJ Vice President-Wayne Wilson WA2LET Treasurer-Bob Krchnavek K2DAD Chuck Colabrese WA2TML Lou Joseph W2LYL Al Arrison KB2AYU Advertising-Open ARES/RACES-Chick WA2USI Awards-Jack K2ZA Banquet-Bob KR2U Budget-Bob K2DAD Clubhouse Site-Al KB2AYU Constitution-Open Crosstalk-Gene AA2YO Database-Ray WB2LNR DX-Doug WA2NPD Field Day-Ray WB2LNR Hamfest-Harry AA2WN GCARC Officers Board of Directors Committees Recording Secretary-Harry Bryant AA2WN Corresponding Secretary-John Fisher K2JF Gene Schoeberlein AA2YO Bob Krukowski KR2U Bill Blakeley WA2ADB Hospitality-Ken N2CQ Membership-Ray WB2LNR Nominations-Art Strong KA2DOT Publicity-Open Repeaters-Chuck WA2TML Scholarships-Greg WN2T Special Services-Gene N2IMK Sunshine-Open Technical-Bob KR2U TVI-John AA2BN VEC Testing-Chick WA2USI 5

6 The W2MMD Repeaters /18 Mhz- Pitman (CTCSS 131.8Hz) / Mhz-Sewell 447.1/442.1 Mhz - Pitman (CTCSS 131.8Hz) Nets ARES/RACES Sunday 20:00 Hrs (147.78/18 and / repeaters) 10 Meter- Sunday following the ARES/RACES Net ( Mhz) GCARC Meetings General Membership 8 pm 1st Wednesday every month Pfeiffer Community Center Williamstown, NJ Board of Directors 8 pm 3rd Wednesday every month GCARC Club site Harrison Twp. 4H Grounds 1 mile south of Mullica Hill on RT77 January Meeting Program Socializing Gloucester County Amateur Radio Club P. O. Box 370 Pitman, NJ